Giving It A Tri

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Inspiration from Winston Churchill

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." --Winston Churchill

Today has been a series of stupid screw ups which has just eliminated another day of training. Motivation is lagging, and I have been busy at the office. But what I have to remember is that I cannot let a failure today keep me from succeeding tomorrow. I have to just get back on the horse.

It is all pretty ridiculous. Last night I packed my gym bag and picked out a suit to wear to the office the next day, as I always do. I find it easier to get my ass out of the house and on the way to the gym by 5:45AM if I can put all my stuff in my car the night before. There is nothing more annoying than lugging my heavy gym bag, my work clothes (suit, tie, etc.), my food for the day (lunch and dinner) and my briefcase, all down three floors at 5 in the morning. But before going to bed I remembered that I forgot to pack dress shoes in my gym bag, and I repeated to myself that I had to remember to pack them before I left in the morning.

Of course I forgot. Thursdays are a big training day on my schedule with a swim in the morning and a spinning class at night. When I get to the gym, I have only my swim sandals and bike shoes. Neither goes very well with my suit. So I have a choice, either workout and then wait around until some shoe store opens around 10:00AM and then go to work, or go home and pick up my shoes and hopefully there will be time to jump in the pool at the gym near my house. I am busy at work so I cannot really wait that late, so I went home.

At home, I realize that I do not have time to go to the gym and take a shower and all that, so instead I putter for a few minutes in the garage with my bike. Then I went to work, but since I arrived late I will not be able to get to my normal spin class tonight. So the net effect of this shoe screw up is that I am missing too workouts. Maybe I can still get in a run tonight, and do the swim biking tomorrow.

At least I was able to accomplish something. While I was home I installed my new Profile Designs Tri-Strike Saddle, and a set of Profile Designs Century Aerobars that I had taken off the bike for cleaning. I put the bike on a trainer and figured I would try out the new Shimano PD-A520 pedals I had installed. No good. I tried adjusting them, but they just do not work with the cleats I have on my shoes. The pedals are very low profile and the pontoons on the cleats interfere with the engagement. I can put the old cleats back on, but I was starting to like these pontoons. They make it easy to walk and I can walk around in the exercise room at my local gym without making gashes in the hardwood floors. Either the pontoons have to go, or the pedals. I thought this might happen, but I had checked the compatibility chart on Shimano.com and it said they would work. Of course I have scratched the pedals in the process of trying them out, so they cannot be returned.

And on top of all that I am developing this weird dry cough. It has been bugging me for two days now. So, you see, I really need some inspiration!